Big Beat Steve

But the Urbie Green set isn't that "modern". Even though the starting track says "Old Time Modern". I don't know about others but I did not hesitate filing my copies (original 10" Amadeo-Vanguard vinyl and Membran label CD reissue pairing it with a Vic Dickenson session as a straight reissue of Jazztone J1259 "Slidin' Swing") in the "Swing" sections of my shelves. I'd describe it as mainstream swing neither moldy-figgish nor adventurous.

Yes that's a pity. I wasn't quite sure which site this "Both Sides Now" actually was. The name didn't immediately click with me. But I now see (as I have just googled an obscure LP and was led to this site). It's been quite a wqile since I last used it, but I now realize I've used it often. However ... I must admit I am not totally surprised. The site layout is sort of "first generation website"-ish. I.e. one of those sites that must have been created ages ago but its layout still looks like way back (and where you just keep your fingers crossed it will be around for a long time to come). Maybe I'll just have to save the contents of some "favorite label" pages in Word files to my PC ... (but reformatting the contents properly does not look to be easy)

The first one has the merit of including some relatively rare EPs conveniently all in one place But the second one is a hodgepodge. One of those annoying habits of FS and its subsidiaries to recompile sessions by some secondary and tertiary criteria such as a specific number of musicians ("complete quartet" and the like) or one specific musician from the lineup (as Quincy Jones here). Tracks 1 to 10 plus 15 to 19 are part of the "Harry Arnold Big Band Classics 1957-58" reissue (the key recordings of the legendary "Jazztone Mystery Band") on Dragon. Isn't it so that anyone listening to those recordings would do so on account of the Harry Arnold band in the first place, whereas Quincy Jones in the overall picture of things is more of a nice add-on and icing on the cake? So why stop short of the whole thing as reisseud e.g. on Dragon? And tracks 11 to 14 are no live tracks (contrary to what the FS website says) but studio "moonlighting" recordings by part of the Lionel Hampton band during its 1953 tour (sort of the Swedish equivalent of the "Clifford Brown in Paris" sessions on a smaller scale), also widely available on various reissue labels such as Esquire and Metronome. In short, fairly pointless overall. At least at full price.

Yes, that's a nice one. I have the original US pressing on Argo. (Strange ... Americans playing the European rleease, Yurpeens playing the US release ) In the same manner, the late 50s arrangements that Quincy Jones did for Harry Arnold's big band merit re-listening any time.

RIP. Just too bad the daily press and news obits reduce his work and accomplishments more or less to Michael Jackson.

Your impressions of the Bunk Johnson bio made me smile ... Seems like a labor of love, but one for hardcore fans only (who'd soak up every snippet of the life of their hero). Reminds me of a musician and entertainer you ought to know from German TV (Götz A., long-time co-host of the "Zimmer frei" show, a.o. ) once wrote (tongue-in-cheek) in his self-published fanzine in his younger days (around 1980): "I'd happily listen to a 10-LP box of Jerry Lee Lewis brushing his teeth!"

This is the impression I eventually got when I checked the tables of contents of both books. So it all depends on how easily accessible the sources are. I know I already have "Modern Jazz" by Alun Morgan, the Robert Gordon JWC book (I guess it is this BOOK he quotes from when Robert Gordon is mentioned as the source) and JazzLife. As for the rest and maybe more obscure sources hard to locate ...? Who knows? I know Down Beat is no mystery anymore since the volumes could be accessed and downloaded via the World Radio History site. But to how much trouble to search each feature article would one want to go to? Or what would it be worth to have everything in one place and at your fingertips? We'll see ...

Thanks for that info! You are right - the error must indeed be in the recording date of "Early Autumn" indicated on my CD. The date of 7 July 1952 (already indicated correctly in Jepsen's discography, BTW) must be the correct one. The timing is 2:54 indeed (indicated as 2:55 in the booklet but that one second may be a matter of timinig of the fadeout anyway). So the "Early Autumn" recording by the "current band" (as per the original liner notes by Woody Herman) means "current as of 1952". But definitely not "1954", as alluded to in that reivew. I just checked my other Woody Herman LPs and see I also have Discovery DS-845 (which features part of the studio recordings from the Mars period). But the liner notes indicate 30 May 1952 as the recording date of "Early Autumn" (though the lineup they provide is the one of 7 July 1954, with Lee Fortier replacing Jack Scarda). So maybe this is how the error found its way into the booklet of my CD on the "Poll Winners Records" (PWR) label? One thing remains puzzling, though: The review under the link you provided gives a time span of 26 Feb. 1945 to 15 July 1954 for the contents of the CD and LP. The date of 15 July 1954 corresponds to the Omaha broadcast mentioned above. However, neither Early Autumn nor any of the other of the 12 original tracks come from that broadcast and date. The most recent one on the original LP contents is from 21 May 1954, according to the booklet of my CD. So how did that date of the Omaha broadcasts find its way into the review (by Brian Priestley, no less ...)?? Did Columbia use the recording date indicated incorrectly (for an "Early Autumn" version allegedly released on the original Columbia CL592 LP) in the Jepsen and Bruyninckx (and other?) discographies for the CD reissue? And Priestley didn't notice??

There seems to have been a mixup in several ways. I don't own the LP (Columbia CL592) but 1 or 2 years ago I picked up a CD reissue (PWR 27275 , which more than doubles the LP contents with bonus tracks from the 1945-47 period) at a local clearout sale for the affordable sum of 1 EUR. It seems like the CD reissue reviewed under your link is a different and more recent one (on Columbia Legacy, which according to Discogs only includes the original 12 tracks). So I cannot be definite about what that booklet actually says. At any rate, the booklet of mine includes a bio of Woody Herman by Arthur Morton, the original DB 5-star review by Nat Hentoff and the actual liner notes by Woody Herman ( I trust they are complete and unabridged). Below is a scan of the paragraph dealing with "Early Autumn". But Woody Herman refers to this tune only as by his "current band" (which might just as much mean "approximately 1954"). The "Early Autumn" version included on the CD as indicated as coming from the Columbia LP features a lengthy vocal (which sounds like Woody Herman's) so it clearly is not the 1948 original. Besides, the original was on Capitol. Would Columbia have used Capitol recordings for such an LP? Checking the discographies, both Jepsen and Bruyninckx confirm that a version of "Early Autumn" recorded on 13 to 15 July 1954 was released on Columbia CL592. According to these discographies, the tracks recorded that day and and released later (partially on Clef/Verve but also on collector label Swing World SWS-4) come from a broadcast from Omaha, Nebraska. The track on the CD does not sound like a live recording but that may be deceptive. However, I also happen to have that Swing World SWS-4 LP. Fidelity, announcer comments and (moderate) crowd noise clearly make this a live recording. And this LP features "Early Autumn" as well, but it is all-instrumental. What is also puzzling is that the session details of my CD contents claim that "Early Autumn" was recorded in New York on 30 May 1952. This date coresponds to a session for the Mars label and the band lineup included Bill Perkins on that day too. But according to both discographies no "Early Autumn" was waxed that day. So where (and why) did they get that date? The LP on Swing World did not exist yet at the time Jepsen's discography was published, but Bruyninckx apparently did miss that two different Early Autumns seem to exist under that date. He indicates "Early Autmn" as being present both on Columbia CL592 and on Swing World. But according to my CD these clearly are not the same recordings. So ... which is which, really? What does the Tom Lord discography say? Recopied the Bruyninckx slipup or new enlightenments?

Yes, thanks - they opened fine. And I agree that this way of consulting specific chapters for specific purposes (to accompany listening, for example) may well come in handy. From the Amazon listings I did notice that the book is a collection of previously published articles. Which left me wondering about how much I might already have on my bookshelves or to what extent Cerra did update/correct/comment on those period articles that may sometimes be outdated or in fact incorrect (on the basis of more recent research). But I guess everyone will have to find out about this for himself on reading the book.

Worth a separate thread (similair to "In with The In Crowd"). I read the book very recently and sincerely applaud (and agree with) the intentions and purpose of that book to put the record of post-WWII jazz straight in some respects. But I have somewhat mixed feelings about how this is put into practice in this book - and about the factual accuracy of part of its contents too. (A long story ...) I am now also re-reading "Soul Jazz" by Bob Porter who essentially argues along the same lines. I need to let this sink a bit first while reading "Jazz With A Feeling" again (I guess the first time around I was distracted a bit by the errors I noticed and may have missed some finer points of the author's reasoning). Thanks for your reply. I'd be interested anyway to read your opinions of Vol. 1 as soon as you have a more thorough impression of its contents. (Even though I may have ordered the books in the meantime anyway ... )

Further to my above post and question(s), I just checked the web and found this: https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2024/09/jazz-west-coast-reader-volume-1.html This does give me a somewhat better initial impression of the contents (Vol. 2 is in the sidebar to the right). Apparently an anthology of (for the most part) previously published stories/features on WCJ. Admittedly this mitigates my excitement a bit, though I'll very likely spring for them anyway. Just to have all that material in one place. Looks like the "newness" factor of interest largely depends on how easily or widely "accessible" the original sources for the contents of each chapter are, as this would indicate what REALLY would be new to "advanced readers". I do own "Modern Jazz" by Alun Morgan and Raymond Horricks (a 1956 book), so we'll have to wait and see to what extent the respective chapters are strict copyings (without updates, etc.). And just for correctness (and fairness) sake, the credits to Chapter 37 of Vol. 1 ("JazzLife") visibly are all wrong. This chapter apparently comes from the "Jazz Life" book first published in Germany (and German) in the early 60s. But no way the author was William Claxton! Not by the longest of long shots. He contributed the photographs to that book. A major accomplishment, but the entire text was by Joachim Ernst Berendt, for decades the #1 "grey eminence of German jazz journalism". Unfairly relegated to the small print in the fairly recent updated trilingual "reissue" by Taschen. So this chapter is a (well-done) translation of the original text written by Berendt. Something that ought to have been clear and known to the author/compiler/collator of this book. Honor to whom honr is due, therefore ... Opinions and impressions of the contents in their entirety are welcome anyway ...

That's these, then? https://www.amazon.com/JAZZ-WEST-COAST-READER-1/dp/B0DHH5XCBH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32VZIFEF5FCFZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4tZq_hyHXMwuhd7k_QBtwX0nNP2yIIUqx5pWbdfOyhvVauPjAMofHOqrEUf3Q3N1.Pp33glJKKFeeUb4eVHf9z5B5P8dm2Ilrcpn4agxFNlg&dib_tag=se&keywords=jazz+west+coast+a+reader+vol.+1&qid=1730457553&sprefix=jazz+west+coast+a+reader+vol.+1%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.de/Jazz-West-Coast-Reader-2/dp/B0DL5KLL88/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=34OY611GEG4LX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sOQu3lttK2O3sJHOpUMyQDVYCMmIoAcgQ9rW6O-sMLF3-stERqELi5c9u50hTN-70b1uBL_tqof6pNvMkIt8E6dXSOrc2lTXY8rVG-YWIum2B3L1D3RtNLt6VSHjK85KJMCoyqtP0PgjaSGg8NgkRARuCaOG_Hk_OvrKCSe551JtXVNBUyPvhKlON5wTbsikMBLfkgCEwc5cF15XMa8rNFhbslkm6fwkBXD3Cy0XqIk.q0-cU5wYtpauLXk-DWH3LuIAjuxPDJqqaPWIImwwmwY&dib_tag=se&keywords=Jazz+West+Coast+A+Reader&qid=1730456930&sprefix=jazz+west+coast+a+reader%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-2 So what are your impressions of Vol. 1? A "review" would be appreciated very much. I'm very tempted. To keep the JWC history books by Gioia, Gordon and Tercinet company on my bookshelf. But I wonder in which way these complement and expand the above books. Or do their contents tend towards the anecdotical approach of "The Melody Lingers On" by Jules and Jo Brooks Fox (which isn't bad but I find it a bit fuzzy and unfocused within the overall framework of WCJ). So any feedback on the above two books should be interesting.

Certainly not to the extent of many others, I'll admit that. "Belittled" was not an appropriate term either. And he certainly was acknolwedged in jazz circles in Europe. But OTOH what baffled me was that I recently read a statement somewhere to the effect that with the "Genius + Soul = Jazz" album he established his jazz credentials at last. Which sounded odd to me for two reasons: Did this mean that his credentials in jazz circles somehow were different (short of "true jazz"?) before that LP? And were his collaborations with Milt Jackson prior to that LP not enough, then?

Well, I still do (from time to time). And I am happy to see that many (others who browse the stores) apparently still stick with "THE NARRATIVE" - which not all that rarely leaves nicely priced goodies off the beaten tracks of the usual suspects for me. Which confirms the point made by Rabshakeh that "99.9% are not".